Normalcy during BJP strike in Tamil Nadu, Puducherry

Chennai, July 22 (IANS) Normal life in Tamil Nadu and Puducherry was not affected by the general strike called by the BJP on Monday to protest the murder of its leader V. Ramesh, police said here.

However, shops in some districts in Tamil Nadu and Puducherry downed shutters and sporadic incidents of stoning of buses were reported. A two-year-old girl was injured here when BJP workers stoned a bus.

In the state capital, public transport and educational institutions functioned as usual while BJP workers demonstrated in the city.

Private buses in Puducherry did not ply, affecting commuters. Public and government buses ran with police security.

Ramesh, 52, general secretary of the Tamil Nadu BJP and a chartered accountant, was hacked to death by some unidentified men Friday night at Salem, around 340 km from Chennai.

Citing a pattern in killing of second-rung leaders of the BJP and other Hindu organisations in the state, the BJP called a general strike.

Tamil Nadu Police arrested some party cadres for protesting on roads.

Meanwhile, the BJP's working committee member in Tamil Nadu Rajarajeswari died Sunday after she set herself afire protesting Ramesh's murder.